Which F2P games have the least restrictive payment model?

raystantz

As in, if I were to go out and sign up for any of the free to play games on the market right this very minute, which one would I be able to get the most out of without spending any or a very small amount of cash on?

I'm not saying that I necessarily want a completely "free" experience because these companies have to make money in order to keep the servers going, but some of the cash shop models are somewhat ridiculous in that they sometimes require even more money than a normal sub fee in order to progress.

What games would you say are the most forgiving in this aspect? Be it, cash shop items can be earned with in game currency (with more work/time required.) and don't restrict you from content/features?

If you give an answer, please provide reasoning behind your claims. What features make it better?

Scorchien

STO, can play the game to max lvl ,all features ,without spending 1 cent

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raystantz

Dren_Utogi said:

Torval said:

In order of least to.........

has 10k post, doesn't mention Tera ......

2nd time he/she's mentioned Project Gorgon and only the 2nd time I've ever heard it mentioned period. I did look into, seemed like it was literally like a 1-2 person team running it. That's quite the undertaking.

Albatroes

Surprisingly enough, Rider's of Icarus isn't too bad on their f2p model. They also give away some of their CS currency and mounts on a monthly basis at least. Something to look into since they are introducing their ranger class next month

waynejr2

raystantz said:

I'm not saying that I necessarily want a completely "free" experience

This is exactly what you are saying.  Writing that gives you away.

Just like the guy who says "I am not trying to brag but I ..." gives them away.

Distopia

For my tastes in what's available in F2P..  Out of pure content offered I'd honestly say SWTOR. You get a ton of content as far as class stories go. No other F2P really comes close to offering anything like that, that I know of anyway. On top of that subbing opens up a lot more. 

The closest contender IMO would be LOTRO, again a ton of content, yet it's a bit more aged/boring so I can't really stomach playing it.  A notable mention would be AOC. WHich doesn't have as much content, yet it's a bit more "modern" than LOTRO. 

Most other F2P offerings offer trite grind based content Tera, AA,RIFT, EQ2 etc.... I stay far away from games like that. Far too boring.

Talonsin

STO - No money needed but it gets sad when each mission drops 5 lootboxes that you need to buy a key to open.

TERA - Very good model and lots of opportunites to earn goodies just by playing.

Black Desert Online - Only costs $5 and has so much more to do than just kill things

SWTOR - Other than having to buy the action bar, it is a great F2P experience for the class missions with some great story telling.  The Jedi Knight and Bounty Hunter stories are my favorites.

filmoret

Rift

TalulaRose

Distopia said:

For my tastes in what's available in F2P..  Out of pure content offered I'd honestly say SWTOR. You get a ton of content as far as class stories go. No other F2P really comes close to offering anything like that, that I know of anyway. On top of that subbing opens up a lot more. 

The closest contender IMO would be LOTRO, again a ton of content, yet it's a bit more aged/boring so I can't really stomach playing it.  A notable mention would be AOC. WHich doesn't have as much content, yet it's a bit more "modern" than LOTRO. 

Most other F2P offerings offer trite grind based content Tera, AA,RIFT, EQ2 etc.... I stay far away from games like that. Far too boring.

SWTOR has one of the most restrictive models and tries force you at every step to sub.

raystantz

waynejr2 said:

raystantz said:

I'm not saying that I necessarily want a completely "free" experience

This is exactly what you are saying.  Writing that gives you away.

Just like the guy who says "I am not trying to brag but I ..." gives them away.

Where exactly did I say that?

Games need funding to even operate, you simply can't not pay anything or the games die and then we're here on the forums talking about them instead of playing them.  It was just a poll. I'm playing Archeage, so your argument is invalid.... :pleased:

All of these games need money to function, just some less than others. Nobody wants to play a game where they are spending more than 14.99 a month.. if that's the case, I'll just ya know.. play a subscription based game.

frostymug

TERA, ESO, Marvel Heroes. In that order. Or reverse order. Or whatever order you choose based on what style game you like. Free can go a long ways in any of them. I prefer MH currently, but rotate through them.

TERA lets you earn plenty just by playing. Can feel grindy at times.

ESO is pretty much unlocked with the box buy, but you won't have expansions. Still a lot of world to explore.

Marvel Heroes is basically superhero Diablo. You can play all chars to 20 and unlock one to go to 60. Constant events that drop items that potentially unlock more chars/costumes. They also give away char unlocks decently often. If you're a hoarder you will spend money for storage or lose your mind.

If you're looking at spending more than or equal to the 20 or so bucks upfront that you can get into ESO for though, you'd probably get more mileage from a single player game that won't require grinding to unlock or achieve things. Unless you need the social aspect 

TheScavenger

WoW is pretty good. For 15 dollars, and the occasional expansion, you get 100% of the game for no other price. No paying extras (except cosmetics), no nickel and diming...very good system

ESO is also as good as WoW, but even better. For 15 dollars, you get ALL content+ALL DLC, a bag of infinite holding, AND points every month to either spend or save for the cash shop.

GW2 comes in a semi-distant 3rd. A TON of content for free. Do have to buy expansion. But not too big a deal with no monthly fee. Cheaper than WoW. The downside is a TON of focus on the cash shop (immortal harvesting+crafting tools, forced to buy story content if you missed it and bank space+bag space is very limited without the cash shop). If GW2 did a ESO payment module, it would be as good as ESO is, which is better than WoW.

Those three are the best payment models.

raystantz

TheScavenger said:

WoW is pretty good. For 15 dollars, and the occasional expansion, you get 100% of the game for no other price. No paying extras (except cosmetics), no nickel and diming...very good system

ESO is also as good as WoW, but even better. For 15 dollars, you get ALL content+ALL DLC, a bag of infinite holding, AND points every month to either spend or save for the cash shop.

GW2 comes in a semi-distant 3rd. A TON of content for free. Do have to buy expansion. But not too big a deal with no monthly fee. Cheaper than WoW. The downside is a TON of focus on the cash shop (immortal harvesting+crafting tools, forced to buy story content if you missed it and bank space+bag space is very limited without the cash shop). If GW2 did a ESO payment module, it would be as good as ESO is, which is better than WoW.

Those three are the best payment models.

Except that the question was, "What's the best F2P model?" 

raystantz

DMKano said:

For me the appeal of "what game gives the most free" is not what makes it worth playing.

I mean what's the point of picking a game that gives you "the most free" but is not that fun to play for you?

IMO - find a game that you LIKE, don't worry about the monetization model - as if you really enjoy something, throwing some cash to devs to support something you like isn't all that bad a deal, now is it?

Exactly, but that's not the question that was asked. Sure, those are factors you should totally think about when choosing a game. The question was simply, what games are the most forgiving if you're broke and don't want to spend any money in terms of what you have access to.. not necessarily which game is the most fun to play, different things are fun for different people. I don't like crunching numbers for example.. but some people find that fun!

xyzercrime

DMKano said:

TheScavenger said:

WoW is pretty good. For 15 dollars, and the occasional expansion, you get 100% of the game for no other price. No paying extras (except cosmetics), no nickel and diming...very good system

ESO is also as good as WoW, but even better. For 15 dollars, you get ALL content+ALL DLC, a bag of infinite holding, AND points every month to either spend or save for the cash shop.

GW2 comes in a semi-distant 3rd. A TON of content for free. Do have to buy expansion. But not too big a deal with no monthly fee. Cheaper than WoW. The downside is a TON of focus on the cash shop (immortal harvesting+crafting tools, forced to buy story content if you missed it and bank space+bag space is very limited without the cash shop). If GW2 did a ESO payment module, it would be as good as ESO is, which is better than WoW.

Those three are the best payment models.

you do know what F2P means, right?

And you do know he has yet to take his medicine, right?

On topic:

I vote for Path of Exile. You only pay for skins and more stashes, nothing else. No premium access whatsoever, just download and play it as much as you like.

PoE players paid their game because they are satisfied, not because they REQUIRED to pay.

waynejr2

raystantz said:

waynejr2 said:

raystantz said:

I'm not saying that I necessarily want a completely "free" experience

This is exactly what you are saying.  Writing that gives you away.

Just like the guy who says "I am not trying to brag but I ..." gives them away.

Where exactly did I say that?

Games need funding to even operate, you simply can't not pay anything or the games die and then we're here on the forums talking about them instead of playing them.  It was just a poll. I'm playing Archeage, so your argument is invalid.... :pleased:

All of these games need money to function, just some less than others. Nobody wants to play a game where they are spending more than 14.99 a month.. if that's the case, I'll just ya know.. play a subscription based game.

You wrote this 'I'm not saying that I necessarily want a completely "free" experience' which is a psychological slip of what you are intending.  haha.

Kyarra

I am going to say Age of Conan. They give you all the content, and not too many limitations like SWTOR. It is still bustling on the pve server Crom.

rojoArcueid

Kyarra said:

I am going to say Age of Conan. They give you all the content, and not too many limitations like SWTOR. It is still bustling on the pve server Crom.

Unless they changed it recently, last time i played AoC there were major character progression features locked behind the subscription. I purchased the game and the expansion but never subscribed and still had the restriction. But yes, nothing beats Swtor at EA's own game of greed.

Warlyx

Gw2 vanilla is f2p and u have tons of content

Tera is good too

Swtor if u never played , is less restritictive now and u can get free stuff if u ask for it here , that makes the game more playable , tons of content and class stories are still good

after that i can say avoid any trion game like the plague ...

+1 to MH  put some $$$ there and was worth it , tons of hours of fun , and the f2p is fair (Gaz gives tons of things for free but inventory ><) , i bought some heroes but others got it free , they are making huge changes to the talent system (that are cool some heroes need some polish after that but they are working on it!)

Nanfoodle

Swtor is the win in this area. 8 class you can play to the end for free. Months of play time. 

bcbully

Age of Wushu. Play the whole game for free.

raystantz

waynejr2 said:

raystantz said:

waynejr2 said:

raystantz said:

I'm not saying that I necessarily want a completely "free" experience

This is exactly what you are saying.  Writing that gives you away.

Just like the guy who says "I am not trying to brag but I ..." gives them away.

Where exactly did I say that?

Games need funding to even operate, you simply can't not pay anything or the games die and then we're here on the forums talking about them instead of playing them.  It was just a poll. I'm playing Archeage, so your argument is invalid.... :pleased:

All of these games need money to function, just some less than others. Nobody wants to play a game where they are spending more than 14.99 a month.. if that's the case, I'll just ya know.. play a subscription based game.

You wrote this 'I'm not saying that I necessarily want a completely "free" experience' which is a psychological slip of what you are intending.  haha.

You're right. I'd never actually just say "exactly what I mean." That'd be ludicrous! There's always an ulterior motive to everything. You've uncovered my secret! You get +10 experience points!

raystantz

Kyarra said:

I am going to say Age of Conan. They give you all the content, and not too many limitations like SWTOR. It is still bustling on the pve server Crom.

How about those PVP servers?